Assorted US news

The March 2022 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited, the Mother of Bluegrass Magazines, pays special tribute to the late J.D. Crowe with articles by Thomas Adler on his career as musician and bandleader; by Dan Miller on his long friendship with Paul Williams; and by Derek Halsey, who compiled the memories of some of the best musicians in bluegrass. Other good things include Bill Conger's feature on Seth Mulder & Midnight Run, one of the last US bands to visit Ireland before the pandemic.

The 70th Bluegrass Unlimited weekly newsletter includes a Spotify playlist of forty-seven tracks from the recorded output of J.D. Crowe & the New South; and an archived article by Barry Silver, 'Curly Seckler - from Foggy Mountain to Southern Grass', published in 1979 when Curly had taken over as leader of the Southern Grass on the death of Lester Flatt.

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The Steep Canyon Rangers, definitely the last US band to play in Ireland before lockdown, announce their 'Free For All' open-air concert, to be held in Pack Square Park, Asheville, NC, on 7 May 2022, sponsored by the Oskar Blues Brewery.

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Nu-Blu, who toured Ireland in a trio configuration in the autumn of 2019, will be giving a special concert with the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation in Dallas, TX, this coming Friday, 18 March. More details are on the Foundation's website.

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Ken Perlman (USA), master of 'melodic clawhammer' banjo, sends a reminder of the next online live instructional banjo workshop in his 'Clawhammer Clinic' series, 'Playing Celtic reels with taste and authority, clawhammer style', this coming Monday (21 Mar.).

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To end with news of how good things come from J.D. Crowe even after his death, read John Curtis Goad's review on Bluegrass Today of the new album Crowe & Wasson.

© Richard Hawkins